The Congress on Friday stepped up its attack on the Centre and the Election Commission (EC), alleging that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was shrinking the country’s electorate, with the number of voters now at levels last seen in 2015.
Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh cited an analysis published in a business daily to claim that the electorate across 31 states and Union territories had grown from 81.7 crore in 2015 to around 95 crore before the SIR process began, but had since fallen to 81.8 crore.
“This reversal is unprecedented,” Ramesh said in a post on X, describing the exercise as “Mass Disenfranchisement Of Indians (MODI) through the Shah Instigated Removal (SIR)”.
Ramesh said the decline followed the deletion of more than 13 crore voters at the draft-roll stage of the SIR. He claimed the actual number of deletions was higher and that the electorate would shrink further as the revision process was still underway in 14 states and Union territories.
Citing Maharashtra, Ramesh alleged that the state’s electorate had increased by 5.6 per cent between the 2024 Lok Sabha election and the SIR, before falling by 21 per cent following the revision.
“In Maharashtra, the data reveals the Vote Chori pattern: first, the electorate grew by 5.6 per cent between the 2024 Lok Sabha election and the SIR. Now, the SIR has shrunken it by 21 per cent,” he said.
Ramesh also claimed that the SIR in Delhi had reduced the electorate by 16 per cent compared with its 2014 level.
“The capture of our electoral system by the RSS-BJP through the Election Commission of India cannot be allowed to stand. We will ensure that every voter that has been illegitimately removed is restored to the electoral roll,” he said.
The Congress also accused the EC of “lying” about its ECINet portal and violating the Representation of the People Act, demanding accountability for what it called “violations of the law and the Constitution”.
Ramesh referred to the EC’s September 26 press note, which he described as “damage control but actually damage enhancing”. He said the poll panel had promised to constitute a committee to certify that the “legally-suspect” ECINet complied with the relevant Acts and Rules.
He questioned why such compliance needed to be certified in the first place, saying the EC had earlier itself assured that the platform had been developed in accordance with the law.
ECINet was launched on January 22 with the stated objective of enhancing “transparency, credibility and public trust”, Ramesh said. He pointed to the EC’s press note issued on the day of its launch, which assured that the platform had been developed in strict accordance with the law and complied with the Constitution, the Representation of the People Acts of 1950 and 1951, and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
“All of this was a lie,” Ramesh claimed.
He alleged that by restricting Electoral Registration Officers’ (EROs) access to the ECINet voter-roll system and overriding EROs in states including Goa and West Bengal, the EC under Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had violated the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
Ramesh said both laws establish that EROs have statutory authority over electoral rolls.
He further said that, following recent revelations, the Maharashtra chief electoral officer had written to the EC on September 24 seeking correction of what Ramesh described as an illegal situation.
“Starting today, the INDIA janbandhan, citizens and many civil society organisations will hit the streets across the country demanding accountability for these violations of the law and the Constitution,” Ramesh said.
The Congress had on Thursday said the “chorus” of voices against what it called the capture of the electoral system was growing louder and asserted that citizens would no longer tolerate “vote chori” in any form.
The INDIA opposition bloc had on Wednesday announced joint “save democracy” marches in all districts across the country as well as five major rallies. It also demanded that future elections be conducted using ballot papers and appealed to the Supreme Court to expedite cases relating to the SIR and alleged electoral “malpractices”.
At a meeting attended by leaders of 19 political parties, the opposition decided that all its MPs would march to the EC office on October 6 and that its leaders would meet the President to raise issues concerning alleged irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls.
The opposition grouping also discussed its demand for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and said it would not relent until he was removed.
The meeting came days after The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the previous 10 months to decisions and orders relating to the SIR, saying they had been issued without their knowledge or recommendation.
The EC, which has faced criticism over the reported objections by the two commissioners, has maintained that differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberations in any institution. It has also asserted that all its orders carry full legal sanction and follow established statutory procedures.
(With inputs from PTI)
